The present invention relates generally to methods for delivery of flavors to food products and specifically to methods for delivery of fat soluble flavor compounds to nonfat and low-fat food products in which fat components have been replaced by non-lipid fat substitutes. With the development of novel nonfat and low-fat food products such as those described by Singer, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,287 wherein fats or oils in food products are replaced by proteinaceous materials, there has developed a need for the development of compounds or flavor enhancers which can create a natural flavor impression reproducing that found in conventional high-fat foods. Full fat products possess a temporal flavor profile that is characteristically absent in food products wherein much of the fat is removed in an effort to reduce calories.
Differences in the efficacy of flavor components depend to a large degree upon their relative distributions between the fat and aqueous phases present in most food products. Patton, S., Flavor Thresholds of Volatile Fatty Acids, J. Food Science, 29, 679-680 (1964) discloses that long-chain volatile fatty acids have low flavor thresholds in water (i.e., can be detected at low concentrations) and higher flavor thresholds in oil. Aliphatic aldehydes have been shown to demonstrate the same flavor phenomena. See, Lea, C., and Swoboda, P., The Flavor of Aliphatic Aldehydes, Chem. and Indust., 1958, 1289 (1958). The reverse principle, however, has been known to hold true with respect to short-chain fatty acids McDaniel, M., et al., Influence of Free Fatty Acids on Sweet Cream Butter Flavor, J. Food Science, 34, 251-253 (1969).
In food products wherein the fat components which are normally present have been replaced by non-lipid substitutes for fat, the retention and natural presentation of flavors associated with fat soluble flavor compounds is difficult due to the absence of fat within which such flavor compounds can be incorporated. Non-lipid fat substitutes which reproduce the organoleptic character of fats and oils tend to retain and present fat soluble flavor compounds in a manner different from fats. Thus, while blends of flavor ingredients have been mixed with various non-caloric and low-caloric carriers in an attempt to flavor low-fat foods, the resulting mixtures provide only a short, intense and fleeting flavor profile wherein flavor components are perceived for only very short periods of time in an unfamiliar or unnatural pattern. Accordingly, the goal of preparing flavoring ingredients which provide to nonfat and low-fat food products the full temporal characteristics of full fat foods has been elusive.